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Justin Amash hints at widening dissent in Congress against NSA spying

justin amash NSA Surveillance.JPG

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., comments about the vote on the defense spending bill and his failed amendment that would have cut funding to the National Security Agency's program that collects the phone records of U.S. citizens and residents, at the Capitol, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. The Amash Amendment narrowly lost, 217-205. The White House and congressional backers of the NSA's electronic surveillance program lobbied against ending the massive collection of phone records from millions of Americans saying it would put the nation at risk from another terrorist attack.
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash hinted Sunday that lawmakers who voted against his push to defund federal phone records snooping likely will about-face if the matter comes up for future votes.

Appearing on CNN program State Of the Union, Amash, R-Cascade Township, said he's heard from colleagues who regret not supporting his proposed amendment last month to gut funding for National Security Agency spying.

"I've certainly heard from a number of my colleagues, directly and through the media, that they feel differently about the amendment now, that if they had a second chance, yeah, they might have voted yes on it," Amash said.

The U.S. House last month narrowly defeated Amash's proposal in a closely watched vote viewed as a barometer for congressional approval for NSA metadata trawling brought to light earlier this summer.

The so-called Amash Amendment failed 217-205, after a push by the White House, GOP and Democratic leaders in Congress and intelligence officials to kill it off.

Whether the closeness of the final tally meant a win for Amash in terms of publicity for his fight or merely narrow defeat has been up for debate.

During Sunday's brief interview, Amash said he was "hopeful" that his bipartisan coalition of lawmakers would be able to gut or at least diminish the spying programs in future votes.

He noted that the last vote was an attempt to amend an appropriations bill — in and of itself a different beast — and that future pushes might look dissimilar to that.

"This was an amendment to an appropriations bill, so it had to be written in a very particular way," Amash said, "and I'm hopeful we'll have a way to amend some kind of policy legislation in the future."

Votes appear likely this fall after promises made by some lawmakers during debate on Amash's failed amendment last month.

Fellow Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, vowed during his remarks against the proposal that his House Intelligence Committee would eye more privacy safeguards.

Amash and others, including Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, have vowed to continue prodding congressional top brass and others to reel in the spying programs.

Recently, Amash accused Rogers and other House intel panel leaders of stifling a memo that laid out in basic detail the NSA spying programs ahead of a key vote to renew the Patriot Act in 2011.

"We were kept in the dark," Amash contended during a town hall meeting last week in Lowell Township.

Intel committee spokeswoman Susan Phalen hit back against those claims last week.

Phalen said the accusation creates a sideshow "to give the false impression that Congress was denied information. That is not the case."

"Because the letter by itself did not fully explain the programs, the Committee offered classified briefings, open to all Members of Congress, that not only covered all of the material in the letter but also provided much more detail in an interactive format with briefers available to fully answer any Members’ questions," Phalen said.

Amash has called those claims disingenuous, alleging that House leaders deny the existence of such programs if questions are not tailored to get at the minutiae of each.

Video of Amash's CNN appearance follows:

Zane McMillin is a government, weather and breaking news reporter for MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.